Call for an international ban on asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Call for an international ban on asbestos, by C. Ramazzini (International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1999).

The study

• Author: C. Ramazzini
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Published: 1999;5(3):247-9
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article was not a research study. It was a position statement, published as a special message, from the Collegium Ramazzini, an international academic society, calling for an immediate ban on all mining and use of asbestos. The statement said that the preponderance of scientific evidence showed that chrysotile also causes cancer, including lung cancer and mesothelioma. It presented no new data of its own. Instead it cited other researchers' work. One was an estimate by Julian Peto and colleagues that mesothelioma deaths among men in Western Europe would rise from just over 5,000 in 1998 to about 9,000 by 2018. Another was an estimate that the strictest exposure limit for chrysotile, 0.1 fibers per cc, is associated with lifetime risks of 5 per 1,000 for lung cancer and 2 per 1,000 for asbestosis. The statement argued that asbestos risks cannot be controlled by technology or by rules on work practices. It noted that asbestos use in Brazil averaged more than 1,000 g per citizen per year. The authors concluded that a worldwide ban on asbestos production and use was long overdue and absolutely necessary.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Position statement (special message) issued by an academic society; not a research study and no new data
• Who was studied: No people were studied. The statement was issued by the Collegium Ramazzini, an international academic society, and addresses asbestos mining and use worldwide
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, all forms (chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthophylite, actinolite), in mining and use
• Main results:
  • The statement asserted that asbestos has been responsible for over 200,000 deaths in the United States
  • The statement asserted that the preponderance of scientific evidence shows chrysotile causes cancer, including lung cancer and mesothelioma (a claim based on cited literature)
  • Cited from Peto and colleagues: mesothelioma deaths among men in Western Europe predicted to rise from just over 5,000 in 1998 to about 9,000 by 2018
  • Cited estimate: the strictest occupational exposure limit for chrysotile asbestos (0.1 fibers per cc) is associated with lifetime risks of 5/1,000 for lung cancer and 2/1,000 for asbestosis
  • Cited study: women residing in communities in Canadian asbestos-mining areas had a sevenfold increase in the mortality rate from pleural cancers
  • The statement argued that asbestos risks cannot be controlled by technology or by regulation of work practices
  • Asbestos use in Brazil averaged more than 1,000 g per citizen per year, compared with less than 100 g in the United States
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that an immediate worldwide ban on the production and use of asbestos is long overdue, fully justified, and absolutely necessary

Related studies

• Asbestos is still with us: repeat call — Collegium Ramazzini (2010)
• International jurisprudence on trade and environmental health: one step forward, two steps back? — K. Timmermans (2008)
• Collegium Ramazzini call for an international ban on asbestos — P.J. Landrigan, M. Soffritti (2005)
• Asbestos is still with us: repeat call for a universal ban — C. Ramazzini (2010)
• Asbestos is still with us: repeat call for a universal ban — C. Ramazzini (2010)
• Asbestos is still with us: repeat call for a universal ban — Collegium Ramazzini (2010)

Browse more research in International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, or return to medical research.